Catorius

 is a character in Bastard's Wound.

Background
A man spins to meet you as you enter the core of the stronghold, his carbon-black skin gleaming with a sheen of sooty sweat. Sweeps of gray ash smear his red robes, and he grasps in his hands the staff of a Blood Chanter - orange flames licking its length. The former Sage is Catorius the Younger, scholar of the School of Ink and Quill, Master of the Pyric Arts.

Catorius is Voices of Nerat's creature, controlled by way of his wife, Marion. When the Chorus took the village where she was living in 427, Voices used her to manipulate Catorius and reach areas of the Tiers Northerners could not go to. Long before the Tarkis and the Sages attacked the Vendrien's Well Citadel and slaughtered the imperial garrison there, Catorius was helping Tarkis Demos plan his insurgency. More, he was implementing Nerat's plan for Verse, engineering her squad's demise and ensuring she witnesses their deaths. The plan didn't go off perfectly, as they captured Red Geyser rather than killing her - and sold her back to Nerat.

His standing orders after the fall of Apex were to keep tabs on Verse. In case she figures the plan out, he was supposed to bring her to Nerat. Otherwise, his wife's life would be forfeit.

Quests

 * The Third Degree: The final mark in Verse's quest for vengeance. Note that as of the final patch, there's a bug in his dialogue whereby he'll always assume you let Krokus off the hook, even if you killed him.